The English General who was personally picked by Prime Minister Pitt to command the attack on Louisbourg, in 1758. Though of indomitable perseverance and courage, he was slow and methodical in his movements. 'Provident, conciliating and cool, Amherst disposed his operations with steadiness, neither precipitating nor delaying beyond the due point ...'"

Belcher's career as Chief Justice of Nova Scotia was to cover a period which extended from 1754 to 1776. He draws our interest, primarily because he was sitting on Council when the fateful decision was made in 1755 to deport the Acadians.

Boishébert was to come to Acadia with his uncle, Sieur de Ramezay in 1746 and his connections to Acadia continued until he returned to Quebec in 1758 to fight on for the French until their final defeat in 1760. Having been returned to France, this brave Canadian French military officer was put on trial with a number of French colonial administrators (including Bigot). The trial was to produce some very valuable records and give an inside glimpse as to the goings on at the highest levels of the French command in America during its last years.

Born in Annapolis Royal (his mother was a Latour) Bradstreet was to join the British army as an officer and had an extensive and involved career during the wars with the French on the American continent (1745-63).

Richard Bulkeley held numerous governmental positions in the early establishment of the British capital, Halifax, ones in which he preformed admirably, such that, he has been described as the "Father of the Province."

"Major Cope" was the Chief of the Micmac tribe at Shubenacadie; thus, he had to have a close connection with Le Loutre. The French governor, Raymond, did not think much of his ally: "a drunkard and a bad lot ... a bad Micmac whose conduct has always been uncertain and suspect to both nations." (DCB.) It was under the direction of Cope that a group of Micmacs (headed by Cope's son, Joseph), under false pretenses, overpowered Captain Bannerman and murdered him and his crew on the 19th of May 1753. (Anthony Casteel was the only crew member to escape, mainly because he spoke French and was thus able to convince the Indians that he was on their side. Thomas Raddall writes of this historical event in his book, Roger Sudden.) Cope died, it is guessed, at Miramichi around 1760.

Deschamps, a Swiss, first came to Nova Scotia, likely in 1749. In the early days he was a successful merchant and ran a truckhouse at Piziquid (Windsor). In 1759, Deschamps became the first member of the Nova Scotia Assembly to represent the new county of Annapolis. During the 1760s, the 1770s and the 1780s, he received increasingly more important and far ranging public positions, both in the administration of government and on the bench, eventually to become the acting chief justice in 1785.

Dièreville was a French surgeon who came to Port Royal in 1699. He stayed in Acadia for a year and then returned to France. Once back home, in a curious mixture of prose and verse, Dièreville wrote of his experiences: recounting his journeys and experiences; describing the local flora and fauna, the state of the beaver trade, and of the native habitants and their customs.

Germain, a Jesuit priest, first came to Acadia in 1740 to act as a missionary to the Malicites and lived among them on the St. John River, pretty well throughout the time under review. Germain figures into our story when he led -- these French priests and missionaries were always in the service of not only their God, but also of the French king -- a band of warriors down to Beaubasin and from there went with Villiers overland from the Isthmus of Chignecto to catch the New Englanders napping at Grand Pré during February 1747.

Father Girard was sent by the Séminaire des Missions Étrangères in Paris to New France to do his work. He arrived at Quebec, in 1740, this "little priest from Auvergne, of a candid nature and great zeal." In 1742, he was sent to be the parish priest at Cobequid (Truro). It is said (DCB) that Girard was of great assistance to Ramezay during the French campaign in Acadia during 1746-7. He, together with Maillard, obtained "provisions for the forces, acting as liaison between the various detachments, and sheltering wounded French soldiers in his presbytery." Cornwallis, in early 1750, had Girard together with four Acadian deputies arrested. Girard was to eventually come to terms with the British and was therefore allowed to return to his mission; but then, of course, he was in disfavour with the authorities at Quebec. In 1752, Girard crossed over with a number of Acadian families to Ile St Jean (Prince Edward Island). After the fall of Louisbourg in 1758, he, together with a number of Acadians were put aboard the Duke William at Prince Edward Island; it was to sink with a great loss of lives off the coast of England; Girard was one of the few survivours. He eventually found his way to France; and, though he tried to get back to Canada, he never did. He died at the Abby of Jouarre, France.

Gorham came up from Barstable, Massachusetts as a civilian fighter to help out the British regulars who started to flow into Nova Scotia beginning just after the first siege of Louisbourg in 1745. He headed up a famous Indian fighting unit known as Gorham's Rangers.

Handfield was an English officer who spent his "entire military career in Nova Scotia" and was therefore directly involved in the stirring history of the period, including the deportation of the Acadians in 1755 and the 1758 siege of Louisbourg.

Hertel, in 1704, led the murderous raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts and thereafter was to become known as the "Sacker of Deerfield". As it happened, Hertel was sent to Ile Royale for its set up in 1713; in 1719 he was sent to build up Port-Dauphin (Englishtown, N.S).

Hoffman, a German settler, was appointed as one of the eight captains to go with the group of 1500 which was sent, in 1753, to establish the new community of Lunenburg. Hoffman comes to our historical attention because of his involvement in a rebellion, "The Hoffman Insurrection" that was to break out shortly thereafter.

As a Rear-admiral in 1755, Holburne was with Boscawen when a large British fleet of war ships were sent into Nova Scotian waters. In 1757, Holburne was put in charge of another fleet sent to assist in an attack on Louisbourg which was planned for 1757 (the plan was aborted).

Admiral Holmes came to America in 1755 as the Captain of the Grafton. In 1756 he was cruising off Louisbourg for a period of time. In 1757 he came once again to Nova Scotian waters under Vice Admiral Holburne. Holmes was the third in command under Admiral Saunders during the siege of Quebec in 1759.

From Massachusetts, in 1725, Edward How was granted 12.6 acres on an island in Canso harbour, and from that date proceeded to participate in Acadia's "valuable and profitable peltry trade, and in its almost inexhaustible fisheries ..." And along the way became a very influential man during the succeeding wars in Acadia up to his death that occurred on the marsh outside the French fort, Beausejour, as the result of one of the most perfidious acts in Acadian history.

While certainly remembered in his role in the history of Quebec, indeed he was the governor there at the time of his death, through the years Jonquiere had a very significant connection to early Nova Scotia as a French naval officer.

The French officer second in command to Villiers who led 300 Canadians and Indians in a winter attack overland from the Isthmus of Chignecto to catch the New Englanders under Arthur Noble napping at Grand Pré during February 1747.

Another of the Denys family (a family which was to have a great influence on developments in Acadia in at least three of its generations), La Ronde was a commissioned French naval officer, who, among many of his achievements, was instrumental in the selection of site for the fortress on Île Royale, Louisbourg in 1713.

Lord Loudoun was appointed to be the commander in chief of the English forces in North America during the years 1756-7. In 1757, he was put in charge of an intended invasion of Louisbourg. Then receiving disquieting intelligence about the strength of the French at Louisbourg, Loudoun called off the attack and returned to New York without making any attempt. At the beginning of 1758, Loudoun was to be replaced by Amherst.

He was known as "Moses" to the French (this, because he fancied himself to be leading the Acadians to the promised land); and to the settlers at Halifax he was known as Monsieur De Luther, the evil priest with mystical powers. However one might want to describe "Le Loutre," he was, there could be no dispute, a major player in the French/English struggle for Nova Scotia, a drama, the crescendo of which unfolded in the history of Nova Scotia between the years 1738 to 1755.

A fondly remembered governor of English Nova Scotia who came with the troops to take Port Royal in 1710 and continued his connections with the province until his death. In 1739 he was to become governor of Nova Scotia and continued in that capacity until 1749.

Maugher, a Jerseyman, came into the newly founded Halifax in 1749 and for eleven years traded throughout the province in any product that could make him a buck including the sale of tomahawks to the Indians. In 1760, he retired to London with a fortune.

The British officer who led the forces in the taking of Fort Beauséjour in June of 1755; and, who then superintended the deportation of the Acadians that lived thereabouts. Winslow's reported to Monckton.

Mostyn made lieutenant in 1734 and captain by 1740. In 1755 he had been just newly minted as a Rear Admiral of the Blue (February, 1755), when, with his brother admiral, Boscawen, he attended to the Council meeting at Halifax when the fateful resolution of July 28th, 1755, was passed.

During the period under review, which covers The Seven Years War (1756-1763), de La Motte was one of the most illustrious naval men afloat, notwithstanding his advanced years. In 1757, he was to come to Louisbourg and command a large French fleet; it had the intended effect, for it discouraged the English from carrying through with their plans, at least for that year.

Alexander Murray, Scotsman, who was the commanding English army officer at Fort Edward (current day Windsor, Nova Scotia) during the year 1755, and therefore the field officer in charge of the deportation of the Acadians at Piziquid.

Though Noble was with the colonial invasion force sent to Louisbourg in 1745, he made his biggest and final mark on Nova Scotia history in the winter of 1746/1747, when he led 500 men up from their farms and villages in New England to deal with certain French incursions. He together with 70 of his "Massachusetts men" died at the Massacre at Grand Pré on February 10th, 1747.

The ill tempered, one legged, French naval officer, who, at age 55, in 1740, was appointed as the "commander" of Ile Royale; and, was in charge during those critical years leading up the successful English colonial raid in 1745.

Salusbury was a disenchanted and debt-ridden gentlemen that came out as part of Cornwallis's suite in June of 1749. He was sworn in as one of the first councilors at Halifax. Generally unhappy with things he petitioned to be returned to England and returned to his family in August of 1751. Still unhappy, Salusbury came out to Halifax once again, in 1752; but remained only for year before retiring in obscurity to England. His contribution to the history of Nova Scotia is that, as an educated man, he kept a diary, or journal, which, has come down to us and is a valuable source of detail on the life and times of early Nova Scotia, particularly, being with him, of Lawrence's first descent on Chignecto in 1750.

The French governor, Subercase took over responsibility for Port Royal in 1706 and was very successful in defending for a number of years but eventually had to give it up the attacking English in 1710, through no fault of his; he was a brave and well respected French military officer.

A New Englander, Tyng was was employed in chasing French privateers off the coast of Nova Scotia. It was Tyng who brought the badly needed supplies and men to the besieged Annapolis Royal in September of 1744. In 1745, Tyng was put in charge of the colonial fleet which descended on Louisbourg.

Vaughan was one of the colonial commanders in the siege of Louisbourg, 1745. He was a red headed man of the frontier who gave courage, often to himself, from a silver flask, ever present on his person.

This is the French officer who was in charge of a French force which attacked Grand Pré during February 1747. The force consisted of 300 Canadians and Indians; it had made a grueling winter's march overland from the Isthmus of Chignecto to catch the English napping. The New Englanders were under the command of Arthur Noble. Villiers was seriously wounded with the first volley, such that he had to be carried behind the lines and effectively gave up his command to la Corne. Though Villiers survived, he never was able to resume his duties again as a military man. His left arm was so badly shattered that it continued to give him difficulty. He went to France for treatment and then returned to Trois-Rivières, however, ultimately, he was, in 1750, to die on account of the injuries he sustained at Grand Pré.

Winslow is best known as being the officer who directly oversaw the deportation of the Acadians in the Minas area. This event, which occurred in the autumn of 1755, however, was but one of many in a long and distinguished career devoted to public service to the English cause in colonial America.